Marauders
by Camel in the Arctic
Summary: Before Harry and Ron it was James and Sirius and Remus and Peter THE MARAUDERS! Today they get more than they bargained for!
1. Fall Outs and Vampires

"I'm _bored_!"

"We all are, Padfoot, stop moaning,"

"Wish it was a full moon..."

"Yeah, I'm sure _you _do!"

"Sorry, Moony...I forget sometimes..."

"Hmmm...your turn..."

The Gryffindor common room was unusually quiet; most people had already gone to bed, though there were four people still awake, the four greatest friends in the whole of Hogwarts: The Marauders. James Potter, Prongs, sat in front of a window looking gloomily at the grounds, every now and again his hand would reach up to his hair and ruffle it up in case it got too neat.

Two of James' friends, Sirius Black, Padfoot, and Remus Lupin, Moony, sat in front of the dying fire playing what looked like an extremely uninteresting game of chess. Sirius was fidgeting impatiently as Remus sat pondering thoughtfully over his next move.

In the corner, scribbling furiously on a piece of smudged and crumpled parchment the fourth friend sat, Peter Pettigrew, Wormtail. His shaky hand hovered over the sentence he was writing, "Hey, James, what's the other name for aconite?" he called over to his friend at the windowsill.

James said nothing but threw Peter a nasty look, "I would leave him, Wormtail...he's in one of those moods again," chortled Sirius without looking up from the chessboard; Remus had just got him into cheque.

Again James said nothing but threw a screwed up piece of parchment at his friend, it got him on the head upsetting Sirius' long black hair. Sirius smirked to himself, straightened his hair but made no retaliation.

Peter looked panicky, "Remus?" he implored.

Remus didn't look up but said briskly, "Which one, Wormtail? There are two,"

Peter looked down at his parchment and scribbled out a large chunk, "Both?" he asked, ignoring Sirius' sniggers.

Remus said nothing for a few moments; he was concentrating on taking Sirius' knight, "Monkshood and wolfsbane," he answered absently after smugly clearing the board of his friend's knight.

"Don't you _ever _listen, Wormtail?" Sirius said with false exasperation, "We won't always be here to help you with Potions essays,"

"_We_?" Remus snorted, "You're as much help as a chocolate cauldron!"

Wormtail laughed shrilly but stopped abruptly and fell rigidly to the floor where he lay, straight as a broomstick. Sirius lowered his wand and rolled around the floor howling with laughter; even James, who still sat on the windowsill moodily, smiled at his friend's antics, Remus however sighed, raised his own wand and undid Sirius' spell. Peter sprung back to life again and even joined in with the laughter, if a little nervously.

Sirius ceased his rolling and glanced up at James, who had gone back to looking out the window broodingly. Concernedly Sirius picked himself up and plonked himself down on an armchair next to his friend. "Evans said no again?" he asked James quietly while continuing to look at Peter finishing his essay, "Yep," muttered James blandly, still looking out of the window, it had began to snow.

"Too bad, mate," said Sirius as he flicked his hair out of his eyes; still watching Peter as he carefully rolled up his essay.

James swore quietly and muttered something undeterminable, Sirius smiled and said cheerfully, "Cheer up, Prongs! Let's go have a walk," he checked his wristwatch, "I'm sure The Three Broomsticks is still open," he added in an undertone.

"Nah, I'll stay here," murmured James.

"You are so _boring_ when you've been rejected!" moaned Sirius indignantly.

"Shut it, will you?!" James retorted loudly, both Remus and Peter were looking at him with amused looks on their faces, he could just tell what was coming...

"Happens to the best of us, Prongs," said Remus trying to keep a straight face.

"Yeah...At least people don't run in the other direction when you ask them out like they do with Wormtail, Prongs," said Sirius seriously; Peter flushed as his friends burst out laughing.

Remus dried his eyes and stood up, "I'm gonna go to bed," he yawned widely. "Night all," he gathered up his bag and walked to his dormitory, "Me too," said Peter following Remus up the stairs.

"If you're still going to sit here crooning over Evans I'm going as well, mate," sniffed Sirius, trying to sound hurt.

"Yeah...OK; I'll probably be there in a while," murmured James distractedly. "Night..."

"Yeah...g'night," yawned Sirius disappointedly. He walked up the stairs leaving James alone in the darkening common room.

Flopping down on his four-poster bed Sirius sighed, he hated it when James was like this – and it was getting more and more frequent, almost every week now...he pulled his curtains closed and lay awake waiting for his friend to come up, but he fell asleep around four o'clock still without any sound of James.

The next morning was bright and crisp, the snow from last night had continued through the night and covered the entire grounds. The whole of Hogwarts castle looked as though it had been iced like a cake. The school was alive with the buzz of Christmas, it was early December but already the holiday spirit had sunk in; snowballs had been bewitched to chase first years, there were frequent explosions from early crackers in the middle of lessons and one time a herd of angry, jinxed snowmen had cornered poor, tiny Professor Flitwick and he had to be rescued by several other teachers.

The Great Hall that morning looked fantastic, the usual Christmas decorations were being put up; Hagrid was dragging in huge frosted pine trees, Flitwick (having recovered from his snowman trauma) was teaching the armour to sing carols and Dumbledore had carpeted the whole of the hall with soft snow that was strangely warm underfoot.

The Marauders sat at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast; Peter stared awestruck at the mounting decorations, making little noises of delight as each new thing was added. Sirius and James however were looking deeply unimpressed and were criticising everything that had been put up, Remus was the only one that was silent; he was buried in the Daily Prophet that had been delivered to him moments before.

Sirius turned and sighed, a girl on the Ravenclaw table ceased her efforts to attract his attention and slumped unhappily in her chair, "What's good in the news, Moony?" he asked in an uninterested tone.

Remus didn't answer straight away and Sirius had to ask again before he said from behind his paper, "A vampire has been sighted in Hogsmeade..."

Sirius and James snapped to attention immediately, "A vampire?" James asked, all signs of moodiness gone. Remus made a small inclination of his head that was barely visible above the paper. Sirius looked at James and James looked back, identical mischievous grins appearing on their faces.

"No," said Remus finally putting down the newspaper and starting on his bacon, Sirius and James looked at him in disgust, "What do you mean, 'no'?" asked Sirius indignantly.

"We're not going to look for it," replied Remus calmly.

"Look for what?" James inquired with false puzzlement.

"We're not vampire hunters," Remus said evasively, now starting on his pumpkin juice.

"Come _on_!" snorted James, "What makes you think we wanna chase a vampire?"

"I know you too well," Remus muttered.

Both Sirius and James scowled at Remus with identical looks before turning away and began whispering quietly together.

Remus sighed to himself and picked up the newspaper again but was interrupted by Peter, "Aren't vampires really dangerous, Remus?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Remus shortly, trying to shake Peter off.

"Is it true they hate garlic?"

"That's a myth, Peter, there's very little that can hurt them and garlic isn't one of them," said Remus rather pompously.

"Oh," Peter's brow knitted and opened his mouth to ask something else but Remus had disappeared behind his paper again.

The next week dragged on, more and more snow fell on the school and soon it was impossible for anyone to venture outside; both Herbology and Care for Magical Creatures were cancelled (being the only two lessons outside) and were used by the fifth, sixth and seventh years as revision for their upcoming O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s.

With just one week until Christmas the school was buzzing with excitement, even tests were forgotten. Unusually Sirius and James were buried behind the Daily Prophet in the Gryffindor common room on Friday night, they were talking in hushed voices together and occasionally looking round suspiciously for any eavesdroppers. Peter was in there as well, bent over a parchment littered table as usual busily scribbling at some unfinished essay.

The portrait hole open suddenly making several quiet first years jump, and Remus burst through looking thoroughly annoyed; his usually neat, though greying hair, was askew and he had a look of fury on his face. James and Sirius hastily put away their paper as Remus stormed over to them brandishing his wand ferociously.

"Hi, Moony," greeted Sirius cheerfully, Remus said nothing but sent a spell that caught both James and Sirius off-guard and pinned them against their seats.

"YOU!" Remus yelled at them madly, "WHAT DID YOU TWO DO TO SNAPE?"

The common room fell silent and everyone began sidling away from the livid Remus; Sirius and James looked innocently at each other and then at Remus, "When, Moony?" asked Sirius politely, "We do a lot to Snivellus."

"TODAY!" exploded Remus, red sparks shooting from his wand, "HE'S IN THE HOSPITAL WING BECAUSE YOU DID SOMETHING TO HIM, DIDN'T YOU?!"

"Why do suddenly care about what we do to Snivellus?" snapped James angrily.

"DUMBLEDORE KNEW IT WAS YOU!" cried Remus so loudly a second year girl began to sob with fright, "AND LOOK!" Remus pointed madly at his own chest with a shaking finger. Both James and Sirius strained against Remus' spell to see what he was pointing at, they did so for some time, slowly Sirius looked up at enraged Remus, "Hey, Moony...where's your Prefect badge?" he asked calmly.

"DUMBLEDORE TOOK IT! BECAUSE OF YOU TWO!" Remus yelled and with a violent flick of his wand sent his two friends flying to the floor and stormed up to his dormitory fuming.

The door slammed shut and Sirius looked up, his cheeks red with embarrassment, straitening his hair he pulled himself and James off of the floor, they looked guiltily at each other. Remus never got that angry about anything and now, because they had sent a gigantic snowball after Snape, they might have cost themselves his friendship.

The next weekend was probably James and Sirius' worst ever at Hogwarts, Remus hadn't spoken to him since his explosion in the common room and Peter also seemed to be avoiding them. Not only that but they had been summoned to Dumbledore's office and were threatened with expulsion from the school for what they had done to Snape.

With only a week to go until Christmas James and Sirius were feeling extremely unhappy, for once they weren't the centre of everybody's attention. They were sat in the common room alone, it was well past midnight and everybody else had gone to bed. Sirius was walking around the common room moodily, every time he found a piece of homework he sent it maliciously into the fire. James was at his usual spot on the windowsill looking moodily out of the window, suddenly Sirius made a noise of excitement, "Hey, Prongs! I've got something that will cheer us up," he picked up the front page of a discarded newspaper and read aloud, "'_Vampire still at large in the Hogsmeade vicinity, all citizens must be on the look out. Vampire hunters: a thousand Galleon prize for the one who presents the vampire to the Ministry of Magic, dead or alive..._'"

The two friends looked at each other, "I'll get my cloak," said James rushing up to his dormitory.

In minutes James and Sirius were disappearing under James' invisibility cloak and halfway towards the portrait when they heard someone cough from the corner, they turned around to see Peter sat in a high-backed armchair hidden from sight, they didn't even know he was still up. The dying fire cast strange shadows on his face and he had a look of smugness on his face. James started towards Peter but Sirius whispered something in his ear and pulled him out of the room.

Within five minutes James and Sirius were standing next to an old statue of a witch, silently James pulled out his wand and tapped the statue's rump muttering quietly, "_Dissendium,_" the statue moved slightly and created a doorway just wide enough for them to slip through.

They ran all the way down the dark corridor, they didn't speak once until Sirius felt the passageway began to rise, "We're almost there, Prongs," he whispered.

Suddenly his head something very hard, instead of crying with pain he smiled and pushed the trapdoor open, he and James scrambled out and into Honeydukes' storeroom. It was extremely dark there, the large shadows of crates were like black voids, James immediately walked over to the nearest crate and opened it with his wand, he crammed his pockets full of what he could find and went to the next box.

Sirius laughed softly, his friend always had room in his pockets for sweets, from somewhere in the shadows he heard James return the laughter and Sirius went to a box of his own, "Can't hunt a vampire on an empty stomach can we?" he asked himself loud enough for James to hear him.

"Zat vould be advisable," answered a voice from somewhere in the shadows, Sirius laughed, "Oh, come _on_, James! You really think vampires speak like that do you?"

"Speak like what? I didn't say anything," said James in a puzzled voice; Sirius felt a strange, chilling tingle travel up his spine, "That wasn't you?" he asked in a shaky voice.

"No," said James returning to Sirius' side, "What are you talking about?"

"He iz talking about me," helped the strange voice.

"Who was that?" asked James, "that wasn't you was it Sirius?"

"No," answered Sirius, something stirred in the shadows in front of them, "Oh no..." he whispered.

"What? What is it?" asked James, his voice panicky.

Sirius didn't answer him, he simply muttered, "_Lumos,_" and a thin shaft of light burst from his wand, he moved the strip of light up to where he thought the voice had come from...

James let out a gasp of surprise and fear; standing calmly in front of them, illuminated by Sirius' wand, was the vampire. Its skin was deathly pale, its hair black and sleek, it was wearing long black robes lined with red silk. "Velcome, gentlemen. It iz so nice to get visitors..." the vampire smiled slyly, its two front teeth were long and pointed...

Sirius and James looked at each other and gulped...


	2. Nerves Breaking

**A/N:** A dedication: This one's for you D.R.H.; you wanted Lupin so I give you Lupin with attitude! C.I.T.A. xxx

"Vell, vell, vell," mused the vampire, "Vot a vonderful surprise," it clapped its skeletal hands together and let out a low, sly laugh.

James stepped forward suddenly and bellowed a curse at the calm vampire; there was a loud bang and thin snake-like cords flew from the end of his wand, the creature however merely swept them away with bored gesture with his wrist, "Now, now; don't be silly! Your magic von't vork on me!" the vampire mused as it advanced on the two teenagers.

Sirius had a sudden idea, he grabbed the wand out of James' unresisting hands and along his own wand he made a crude cross shape and pointed it at the vampires face, "Hah! Back you monster!" he cried triumphantly. The vampire however covered its eyes with a pale hand and laughed softly, Sirius lowered his cross disappointedly, "Oh _come _on," the vampire sighed, "Vot is that supposed to do? Am I supposed to scream and disappear in a puff of smoke? How stupid are you?" the vampire laughed again and James felt his temper rising, he glanced at his friend, Sirius' hands were clenched in anger.

The vampire stepped quickly towards them and with surprising strength in its thin arms picked both boys up by the collar of their robes and pulled them close to its sallow face, "Zis is the first vampire you have met?" it asked conversationally, the boys nodded with some difficultly, "Vell, ve vouldn't vant you to think of us badly..." the vampire lowered them gently and bowed unexpectedly, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Vilhelm Von Dussledorf, 1821-1845...and onvards I suppose." Vilhelm laughed softly at his little joke, "Vot, pray are your names?"

James looked at Sirius who looked back with a look of shocked horror on his face, then at the vampire.

"Vell?" he asked politely smiling, James muttered his and Sirius' names so quietly the vampire didn't hear, "Vot vas that?" the smile still on Wilhelm's calm face.

"J-James a-a-and Sirius..." James stuttered a little louder.

"Excellent!" exclaimed the vampire loudly making both boys jump, "I should like it if ve spoke for a vhile and then," Wilhelm grinned widely, exposing his pointed teeth, "ve can dine together..."

Back at Hogwarts Peter and Remus were eating lunch in the Great Hall; Remus was eating very little, he was worried about the sudden disappearance of his two best friends but also the full moon was approaching and without Sirius and James the ordeal seemed a whole lot worse. He was still angry with them for their prank that had lost him his Prefect status but he missed them greatly.

"Where are they?" he moaned, his voice a mix of worry and frustration. He glanced at Peter expectantly but he was taking unusual interest in a piece of bacon. Remus sighed, Peter was getting on his nerves, he had evaded talking about James and Sirius' disappearance and when Remus had questioned him directly he had began talking erratically about the weather...there was something Peter knew that Remus didn't...

The school, of course had been looking for the boys, but it wasn't unusual for them to go on escapades every so often so the search was somewhat slack. This irritated Remus even more. The bell went for the next lesson, Peter leapt up and waited for Remus but Remus was in no hurry, he slowly packed his things up and eventually followed Peter out of the hall.

They had Potions now and were making their way down to the dungeons when Peter laughed suddenly, "It's a lot quieter without Sirius and James isn't it, Remus? I could get used to this!" Remus looked at him in shock, Peter was usually quiet around Sirius and James but now they were gone he seemed to have a new lease of life; Remus knew Peter favoured him over the other two but they were his friends too, he shouldn't have been talking about them like this, Remus was getting a little irritated, "I wonder where they have got to though, have _you_ any ideas Remus?" Peter laughed again but Remus stayed silent, his fists clenched slowly with growing anger, something about Peter's tone that suggested to Remus that Peter knew _exactly _what had happened to his friends; he could feel the animal inside of him trying to get out...Peter oblivious to his friend's mounting annoyance continued,

"I do hope they don't come back anytime soon...they always seem to _suck _the fun out of school, being the best at everything and all," Peter glanced smugly at Remus to see if he had picked up the clue he had given him, but instead of looking into Remus' face he came face to face with Remus' fist.

The punch knocked Peter to the floor, a thin trickle of blood running down his lip, "Remus you _hit _me!" he squealed in shock,

"Believe me, _Worm_tail, I could do a lot worse!" hissed Remus dragging the stunned Peter to his feet and pinning him against the wall, "You know where Sirius and James are don't you?" snarled Remus, pressing his forearm against Peter's throat, "_tell me_!"

Peter did nothing but splutter frantically, "TELL ME!" roared Remus, his voice echoing around the corridor but again Peter said nothing, in fact he began to cry. This time Remus really lost his temper, "YOU CALL YOURSELF A FRIEND? YOU ARE A PATHETIC, LITTLE RAT! TELL ME – OR I'LL MAKE YOU TELL ME!" Remus whipped out his wand and pointed it very close to Peter's face.

"Ok...I'll tell you, Remus...for you..." sobbed Peter, "They went to Hogsmeade..." he looked up at Remus as though that was it, Remus wasn't convinced. He pushed his wand closer so that it was a fraction away from Peter's forehead, "Ok, ok...they went to Hogsmeade...to look for the vampire..." Peter trailed of into a fit of frightened sobs.

"MISTER LUPIN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Remus looked round, still in shock at his friends' stupidity, Professor Jigger, the Potions Master was standing in the corridor, obviously attracted to Remus' shouting, the elderly professor had a look of horror on his face as Remus was pinning Peter against the wall so hard the boy's feet had left the ground.

"Release Mister Pettigrew this instant!" cried Jigger, Remus was more than happy to comply, with a furious glare at Peter he removed his arm and the spluttering child slid down the wall and hit the ground heavily. He grunted and fainted theatrically.

Without a second glance at either Professor Jigger or Peter, Remus stormed off towards the passageway entrance to Honeydukes.

"Come back!" cried Jigger at Remus' back futilely, "COME BACK!"

Remus wasn't listening he was angry, in fact enraged. His friends had gone to look for a vampire! But the Daily Prophet had said that it wasn't only a vampire but it was Wilhelm Von Dussledorf, maybe if they had paid attention in their History of Magic class they would realise what that meant. And now, as usual, Remus was the one who had to go and get them out of trouble. He was so angry that as he passed a suit of armour that was singing 'We wish you a Merry Christmas' happily he sent a curse that melted the armour into a twisted blob that shrieked, "Good tidings we bring..." and fell silent with a strange gurgle...

"So, James, vot brings you to my...lair?" asked Wilhelm politely as he sat himself down on a crate of sweets. James sat himself down as well, just out of reach of the vampire, "We thought we'd come to collect the thousand Galleon prize for your head," he said in a voice that was much braver than he actually looked, Sirius groaned under his breath and looked at the vampire; Wilhelm hadn't even blinked he continued to look James directly in the eyes until James reluctantly broke contact.

"Vot about you, Sirius?" asked the vampire still looking at James who shifted uneasily in his seat, "Did you come for, ah, _my head_?" Wilhelm laughed softly and finally turned to face Sirius; Sirius felt suddenly cold, the vampire's electric blues eyes were bright and unblinking, and incredibly unnerving. Sirius swallowed nervously but said quite loudly, "Pretty much, yeah," the vampire smiled broadly but remained silent. The three of them sat in the dark silence for a while and Wilhelm looked at them in turn with his penetrating eyes, suddenly Wilhelm shook himself, "I am being rude, you must vant to know vot I intend to do vith you two," the sly grin came back to the vampire's face in an instant, "you must understand, boys that I cannot let you back from vhere you came, you vould just tell everybody vhere I am and zen they vould send all sorts to come and get me...so vot to do vith you..." the vampire grinned again exposing his pointed teeth, "Hmmmm...vait here," Wilhelm disappeared into the shadows and immediately Sirius turned to James, "What are we gonna do? Maybe we should run for it, back down the tunnel and – "

"Are you crazy!" hissed James, "we can still get this thing!"

"I think you're the crazy one James, magic doesn't work on him,"

"Yeah...well a stake to the heart might work, Professor Styx says that's one way to kill them..."

"Mmmm...steak..." Sirius' dog counterpart took over suddenly.

James cuffed him around the head, "Cut that out!" he snapped, "We have to find a way out of this."

"I am afraid to say there is no vay out of this, boys," Wilhelm's voice came closer and the vampire appeared out of the shadows, he was carrying three red lollipops. With a faint laugh he threw one to Sirius, one to James then he sat down and opened the last one for himself, the boys stared dumbfounded at the vampire as he started his lollipop, "Vot?" he asked defensively as the boys stared at him, he glanced at the lollipop, "oh...blood-flavoured...vot can I say?" he grinned almost sheepishly.

James and Sirius slowly put their blood-flavoured lollipops and sat awkwardly as the vampire gorged himself on his. Wilhelm suddenly looked up and blushed slightly; his cheeks only went a tiny bit pink, "Vhere are my manners?" he asked embarrassedly, "vhere vere ve? Oh yes...vot I am going to do vith you," the vampire grinned broadly again, his teeth were covered in crimson lolly juice, "Vell I von't do anything until the full moon, three days, and then...uh, I think the apt saying here is: I vill suck your blood..."

James and Sirius forgot their braveness completely and keeled over backwards in a dead faint.

"Remus! Remus where are you going?"

"Go away, Peter, unless you want another fat lip,"

"Don't threaten other pupils Mister Lupin!"

"Go Remus!"

"_Be quiet_, Phillips!"

Remus was running down a corridor as fast as he could to get to the Honeydukes passage, he was being followed by Peter who was nursing his lip, Professor Jigger who was purple with fury and quite possibly the run and most of his Potions class, many of which were avidly cheering him on without knowing what he was doing – or why.

"What's going on here? Professor Jigger what's happening?" Remus stopped suddenly, he knew that voice – it was Dumbledore.

"It's Lupin, Headmaster, he's gone crazy,"

"Now, now Arsenius I doubt that very much, Mister Lupin here is a mentally stable young man," Dumbledore laughed softly, "Remus, would you follow me please?" it was not a request, "Mister Pettigrew go to Madame Pomfrey get that lip sorted and Arsenius please take your class back to their lesson." Dumbledore turned on his heel, beckoned quickly to Remus and walked off down the corridor, Remus followed feeling extremely embarrassed and guilty.

The two remained silent until they reached the headmaster's office and had sat down, Dumbledore sat back and steepled his fingers, "Remus, what were you doing?" he asked calmly.

Remus didn't answer he was concentrating very hard on his feet.

"You know where Sirius and James are don't you?"

Remus nodded glumly.

"Where are they, Remus?"

Again Remus stayed silent and Dumbledore sighed, "Remus, tell me now,"

Remus couldn't argue, he looked up and swallowed, "They've gone to Hogsmeade, sir...to look for the vampire that was supposedly there..." Remus broke off, Dumbledore looked mildly surprised, "Of course," he chuckled, "I should have known."

"Peter knew, sir and he didn't tell anyone...that's why I hit him..."

"Yes..." Dumbledore said slowly, "that doesn't matter anymore however, I will go to Hogsmeade and look for those two fools myself, they should have know better," Dumbledore looked sternly at Remus, "Remus, you are not to go and look for them understand me? I will sort it out...now go back to your common room, don't worry about the lesson, I should think it is almost finished anyway."

Remus stood up and left the office feeling more angry with his friends than before; he was wondering how to get back at them as he walked back, but then he heard Peter cry out, he knew it was Peter instantly, no other boy in the school had a scream like that. Remus rushed around a corner and found Peter sprawled on the floor, with no other than Snape standing over him leaning on a crutch (the snowball had taken its toll). Snape's wand was pointing at Peter, "Well, well, well Peter, with your friends taking a little trip with the vampire, I can get some payback without them bothering me...of course if the vampire sucks them dry they won't be around to see what I'm going to do to you," Snape began muttering a curse, however much Remus disliked Peter at the moment he had to intervene anyway he hated Snape.

"Put down the wand Snivellus," he whispered in a dangerous voice and drawing his own, "Put it down or things will start to get...nasty,"

Snape span round in surprise and gasped quietly, the look in Remus' eyes was terrifying, he managed a strong voice nonetheless, "Nasty, huh, Lupin? That's just the way I like it..." his eyes narrowed, as did Remus'. The two boys raised their wands and Remus began the countdown.

"3...2..."

"_Expelliarmus_!" Snape fired his curse early and Remus' wand flew out of his hand and into the greasy hands of Snivellus, "Hah! You're so good without your little, _buddies_, are you?" Snape did some kind of weird jig and Remus felt his temper rising again, the full moon was _so_ close...

Snape finally stopped dancing and straightened himself, "Goodbye..._Moony_!" he hissed,

"_Expelliarmus_!" Peter cried from behind Snape, granted the spell missed and ricocheted around the corridor but it wasn't without thought. Snape however broke down into a fit of malicious laughter at Peter's pitiful attempt to disarm him; that was all Remus needed, forgetting his wand completely he charged at Snape with a roar of fury and delivered a blow that knocked Snape out cold.

Standing up calmly, Remus straightened his hair and picked up his wand, then he turned to Peter who was still laying on the ground, Remus reached down and pulled him up with a smile, "Let's go get our friends,"


	3. To The Rescue

**A/N: - **Ok, D.H.R. I really don't know how you do it but here it is – at least a bit more. Haha, if it wasn't for you I doubt I'd get anything written, so thanks.

James opened his eyes, groaned and said a bad word; "Sirius? Where are you?"

"I'm here, James," replied Sirius' voice.

"Where's 'here'?"

"By this crate,"

James paused, "Sirius?"

"Yes?"

"Where's the vampire?"

"By that crate,"

"Oh…"

"Sirius?"

"Yes?"

"We're in a storeroom,"

"Yes?"

"Which crate you idiot!? The whole room is filled with crates!"

"This one, Prongs, and that one," said Sirius, James could tell by his friend's voice that he was being wound up.

"Look, this is not the time," James said flatly.

"Look, this is not the time," echoed Sirius in the same voice.

"Stop it!"

"Stop it!"

James sat in thought for a while and then said slowly, "I smell…"

There was no answer, then – "Haha, you just said you smell, James!"

"Well I win 'cos you never copied me! Haha yourself!" retorted James triumphantly; there was another pause, "Good game, Prongs, good game…"

From somewhere else in the darkness there was an exasperated sigh, "Zis is probably not goink to be vorth _zis_ torture…"

"Right, Remus. What do we need?" asked Peter back in the Gryffindor dormitories.

"Wands," replied Remus

"Check!"

"Stake,"

"I'll see what I can get from the kitchen, Remus, the elves are doing –"

"_Not that kind of stake_!"

"Oh right…sorry…"

"Never mind, I think we're ready – let's go." Remus slung his bag over his shoulder and made towards the dormitory door, Peter, however, hadn't moved.

"Peter, what are you doing? C'mon!"

"Dumbledore said to stay here, Remus…" Peter mumbled uncertainly.

"So?"

"We might get expelled!"

"So?" Remus repeated

"B-but…"

"LOOK PETER!" Remus exploded – he had had about enough of Peter's whining and the full moon was only one day away, "JAMES AND SIRIUS ARE YOUR FRIENDS! THEY'RE IN TROUBLE AND NEED OUR HELP! IF YOU'RE MORE WORRIED ABOUT YOURSELF BEING EXPELLED THAN THEIR LIVES YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN BE CALLED THEIR FRIEND! OR MINE!"

Remus stopped and looked at Peter, he was shaking and close to tears but he still had an unusual look of defiance on his face, "Why can't we just let Dumbledore - ?"

He never finished – Remus had grabbed him round the neck and lifted him with one hand, there was something different in his eyes…something…animal…this time when he spoke he didn't shout but whispered but even that was more terrifying than the shout, "Peter, do you know what time of the month it is?" he snapped in Peter's face, Peter nodded worriedly, "Good, then you know that I'm a little bit stressed at the moment and if you don't do this I might just tear your arm off and strangle you with it, do you understand?" Peter nodded again and Remus let him go, straightened his hair and marched out of the door with Peter in tow.

"I spy vith my little I somethink beginnink vith, C."

James said a bad word and Wilhelm laughed, "No, not von of those, James. It's your go Sirius."

"Crate?"

"Vell done, Sirius!"

"Kill me now…" groaned James,

"Not yet, James, not lonk though!"

"I don't think there will be any killing of my students, Wilhelm!" said a new deep, musical voice.

"Dumbledore!" cried James and Sirius together looking around the darkness for their headmaster, a bright light filled the storeroom and sure enough, Albus Dumbledore stepped out from behind a stack of boxes, wand raised,

"Stay where you are, you two," commanded Dumbledore as he advanced towards them,

"Albus!" cried Wilhelm clapping his hands together in delight, "How vunderful to see you again!"

"Wilhelm," Dumbledore replied bowing deeply.

"You know each other!" asked James in surprise, Dumbledore looked at him with his bright blue eyes and James fell silent, "Yes Mr. Potter we do, but that might not save you – or me now,"

"Professor!" shouted Sirius pointing, Dumbledore looked around. Wilhelm wasn't there anymore.

"Get behind a crate, quickly!" cried Dumbledore looking around the room desperately, the two boys did so very, very quickly.

"I'm over here, Albus," whispered the vampire, Dumbledore turned, "Not there, here, old boy!" The headmaster turned again and was lifted off his feet and thrown by the vampire that had materialised behind him; the boys cringed as Dumbledore crushed a box of jelly beans – James swore.

"Yeah, I know," said Sirius, "Damn waste of jelly beans…"

Luckily a loud bang from the end of Dumbledore's wand muffled James' reply.

The vampire disappeared again – then it was behind the Headteacher – then above – then in front, he was moving so fast the boys didn't know how Dumbledore was ever going to keep up…


End file.
